4-8-2024
So I have been playing some games and I wanna try and write more about them here, instead of tumblr bc i feel like I can ramble more aimlessly here lol. I have been playing Pacific Drive which has been interesting and fun! I clicked on a vod of Vinny vinesauce playing it becaue I didn't have much to do, and I did not know anything about it. Only moments in, I realized this seemed cool and maybe something I could enjoy-- with the setting, story and gameplay. I literally only watched up to where the characters first started talking, so I REALLY went in blind still. I did not actually know what the gameplay would totally be. But it caught my interesting enough!
So I got it on ps5, because I seriously have nothing on ps5 and decided it would be nice to just be off my PC at least. I got into the game and all that, and I can say it really has been fun. I am not here to critique the gameplay for the entire post-- but WILL say that while it is fun it is quite overwhelming. it has SO much going on and sure, once you get into it it isnt bad. But there are some things I really dont think were needed-- like the massive extent of stuff in the tree of unlocks and especially the quirks (i turned those off because i did not have the energy to learn what the fuck was up with those) or the HUGE amount of lore and documents that are just journals instead of straightforward explanations of things. I am glad you can customize the gameplay so much but I feel like it kinda says how much this game should have been reviewed instead of saying, 'well they can just turn this off'. Aside, the general concept and gameplay is good! Scavenging, going on trips, the tension and threat of the setting and trying to get out alive is all good. Repairing the car is also fun, it has made me really care about it.
But like I said this isnt a review of the game... whats on my mind which is games with stories where there are voices but no characters. NOTE I have not finished the game but I am going off impressions and assumptions of its direction. When I say games with voices but no characters I mean something a bit particular... there are lots of games where you never see others, definitely. But I have seen some games tackling this in a way that seems to give them a lot of criticism on the story, which I think is driven by the expectation of thinking they will see these faceless characters. My first thoughts when playing this game was thinking back to the story of Firewatch. I know there are varying thoughts on that game's ending and I think a lot of it has to do with never seeing the character you spoke to. Why? Its that I think that game, and in turn PD, Describe these characters... existing. Somewhere. We know they're somewhere, we know they are in a location. They talk about it, they move about it, etc. PD has a similar thing going, you know they're *somewhere* out there and they don't seem impossibly far. Because I know they are out there, and it feels like I could go and find them, there is this feeling inside me that maybe I will get to see them. But, when you get this kinda game with no other living physical NPCs, I expect it will have the same route of Firewatch, and likely won't show me anyone. And it would feel weird, actually! It would feel jarring to suddenly see a human NPC. Because I have no clue what to expect, the style, etc. The game never set that up. So you'd think it makes sense, that it should work. But I just don't think it always does, and I think many other people out there have negative reactions to game's that seem to solidify a character's existence in the physical world, within reach of you, but then never show you them.
It is conflicting. Because really I don't think there is an easy solution to this unless you detach that character from possibly existing in the player's world in some form that makes it feel like they will never ever come up physically and there is no way to expect that. I do think there are ways to make a story with a character who IS in physical distance to feel like they could see you but you have to CLEARLY show how they cannot by any means reach you, and if you can then the story must make a point that you are doing something to make them available to you. In Firewatch, there should have been an established point that you would meet the person on the radio, or you couldn't. And if you couldn't see them in the game then give some kind of epilogue or something to better satisfy the idea that they will see each other off screen. While I again don't know where PD will go yet (but my theories are that it will also not show you anyone), I don't really know what to expect. I know where I am being told to go but the prospect of meeting these characters is up in the air and so I'm left unsure about it. The fact that they are directing me through this place, while seemingly being somewhere out there, has left me thinking "why cant I just go find them, if they can get me to drive everywhere?" I don't feel like there is any clear establishment as to WHY they can't see me.
So yeah idk, I Just was thinking about this when I played and Firewatch came to mind. Storytelling like this is interesting to me, I think the concept of playing a game where you never meet someone is cool and it has worked! I have played games that do it well. But I have been having mixed feelings about the story of Pacific Drive and I am sitting here really contemplating whether or not I want to these characters, and if the game even will, because it hasn't given any clear indications if it is even possible. But the amount of personal information plus the logical distance of seeing them, makes it all feel like this will give me the same feeling that a game like Firewatch gave me.